A blue sky, and suddenly a rose color against the clouds.
Roseate Spoonbills have been hiding deeper in the marsh, away from any trails. The good news is they remained all winter, again. Like other tropical birds their range has extended north a little. For us that’s all it takes.
Click any image below to view full size.
I took both of these photographs on different days. One had a low water level, the second a lot more. Both in the same marsh.
These images were in the web site ‘to be published’ folder. I guess today was the day.
What prompted me to finally get them was the marsh of today (6/29/2019). The water was twice as deep, and the Spoonbills way off in a far corner.
Roseate Spoonbill are a tropical bird, and now they live here all year round. This is the second year I have documented their stay.
The climate has changed, the Spoonbills noticed.
Everything is high drama with a Snowy Egret.
They could stand in the middle of 50 different birds, find the only other Snowy, and pick a fight.
There is something about these ‘odd’ birds that captivates most everyone.
The more I follow them the more I appreciate their eccentric behavior.
This is a juvenile Roseate Spoonbill as he flew into this marsh looking to join a large flock (bowl) of his friends.
As I was hiding from yet another heat wave I hit the work pile.
It’s an incredible privilege to do this full time. It also means I need to be diligent about developing / finishing the photographs.
I am way behind and some may never see the light of day.
This is catch up from at least 2 months ago.
Oh, they didn’t get eaten.
One of the key subjects of this web site has not had much coverage lately. I tend to hunt out and photograph Alligators more than most. Some of the other photographers jokingly gave me the nick name ‘Gator Bait’.
I can’t totally ignore the big guys so I pulled a few shots from the ‘to do’ pile.
These were taken around the wildlife management areas in the ACE Basin. The basin is one of the largest marsh areas in the US. There may be more Alligators here than the entire human population of South Carolina.
A walk along the marshes or dikes is an adventure at every turn.
It’s always special when standing in a quiet marsh to look up and spot this.
A group of Roseate Spoonbill flying in right towards me.
They are such a unique animal.
This was the right place at the right time. A group of Roseate Spoonbill came right to me and landed.
While this tree, and small marsh island, may be a favorite spot of theirs you still need to be there when they arrive.
Like everything in wildlife photography you never know what or when. Just need to be out there. I do admit they have made it easier by staying here year round.
Several came in, as a group, making it difficult to decide where to shoot.
Ultimately it was just focus and point, figure things out later.
